The 23rd Taiwan-France Industrial Cooperation Consultation Meeting (ICCM) was held in Paris on the morning of Sept. 30, 2016. Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) Director General Ming-Ji Wu led the official Taiwan delegation to Paris and co-chaired the meeting with Directorate General for Enterprises (DGE) Director-General Pascal Faure. The two sides discussed a range of issues during the meeting. In addition, a “Renewable Energy Forum” was held in the afternoon of the same day, with French and Taiwan government, industry and academic representatives gathering to discuss offshore wind power as well as bilateral cooperation opportunities and strategies in this field.
While sharing the latest industry policies with each other, the two sides agreed that “innovation” is the key to raising a country’s competitiveness, and that in order to successfully guide industry to achieve the goal of transformation and upgrading, government needs to integrate its R&D resources and focus its strategies and efforts on the task. Based on global industry changes as well as the specific circumstances of French and Taiwan industry, the fields of environmental protection, energy conservation, digital economy and smart living have continued to evolve as focuses of cooperation between the two sides.
Regarding industry collaboration issues, the two sides briefed each other on their current industry situation, promotion directions and state of cooperation with respect to digital economy (IoT), renewable energy, future factory, smart machinery and other areas. In addition, the two sides further shared their experience and information with respect to government funds and other related public financing mechanisms, such as how to develop support for industry innovation and cooperation. Both sides expressed satisfaction with progress in bilateral Taiwan-France cooperation in various fields over the past year, while at the same time expressing their hope of continuing their existing cooperation and exploring further innovative collaboration opportunities, with the aim of boosting the competitiveness of their respective industries.
In order to accelerate Taiwan machinery enterprises’ development of key technologies – ‘clicks and mortar’ integration, the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Committee for Precision Machinery Industry Development launched long-term cooperative relations with world-famous 3-D design software company Dassault Systemes, signing a cooperative MOU during the 23rd ICCM that was witnessed by the co-chairs of the meeting. Looking ahead, Taiwan machinery equipment enterprises could be encouraged to import Dassault Systemes’ simulation software and jointly apply it to Taiwan’s production manufacturing sector, in order to boost efficiency through smart production, and enhance the results of Taiwan machinery enterprises’ smart manufacturing.
In conjunction with the 23rd ICCM, the IDB and Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association (CIECA) jointly organized a delegation of representatives of agencies and enterprises in various related fields, including IoT, renewable energy, e-health, digital content, and so on, to visit Paris Sept. 26-29, as part of efforts to seek out cooperative and business opportunities for Taiwan enterprises. During the visit, the Institute for Information Industry signed a cooperative MOU with Dailymotion, the world’s second largest online video platform. The cooperative arrangement will help to raise awareness of the strengths of France’s audio-video industry among Taiwan digital content enterprises and consumers, while at the same time helping to give Taiwan’s original content producers more international exposure, thereby generating greater online business opportunities for both sides.
The ICCM has achieved significant results in a wide range of fields during its 23 sessions to date. Looking ahead, based on the solid foundation that has already been laid, the two sides can continue working to further deepen and expand their bilateral cooperation through this platform in order to generate even more mutually-beneficial business opportunities.